Rail joint



CAD

Patented .lune 24, i924..

HENRY R. BALEY, O DUNDAS, ONTARIO, CANADA.

BAEL JONT.

Application led February-13, 1924. Serial No. 692,496.

To all whom t may conce/rn Be it known that I, HENRY R. BALEY, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Dundas, in the county of lYentworth and Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and useful improve ments in Rail Joints, of which the following is specification.

My invention relates to improvements in railway rails and fish-plates and consists essentially of a rail having slots in its neck portion, and spacing bushings within said slots and through which pass the rail and fish-plate binding bolts.

ln the laying of railway track space is provided between the ends of the rails to allow for expansion and contraction due to variations in temperature and to prevent buckling, but nowithstanding in practice it has been customary to unite the fish-plate to the rails in close fixed relation so that repeated variations in the length of the rails caused by the said expansion and contraction strains the anchorage of the rail joints with the result that the rail spikes in time loosen and sometimes are ejected altogether from the rail ties. Owing to this condition it keeps maintenance of way men busy examining and repairing rail joints.

The primary object therefore of this invention is to provide a rail joint which will permit the rails to expand and contract in length without disturbing the fixed position of the fish-plates and their bed.

A further object is to provide a device of the class specified which will be simple, durable, effective and inexpensive to manufacture.

These, together with other objects, may be attained by the construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and pointed out in the claims hereunto appended.

eferring to the drawing:

Figure l is a side elevation of the improved rail joint;

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional end elevation thereof;

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

On the drawing the rails are indicated by A, the rail ties by B, the flanged bed plate by C and the fish-plates by D. The ini portant features of the invention are the spacing bushings 2, through the cores of which pass the binding bolts 3 which secure the rails and fish plates together. These bushings or spacers are confined within individual horizontal slots 4 in the neck or rail standard A which are of sufficient length to provide longitudinal play between the rails and fish-plates of a length uniform to the allotment for expansion and contraction. The said bushings are just perceptibly broader than the thickness of the neck A of the rails, and the ends thereof contact with the sides of the fish-plates D when the binding bolts 3 are tightened up The intervening space between the bottom flanges D of the iish-plates and the bed plate C is greater than the width of the bottom rail flanges A2 which are confined within said space. Thus it will be observed that no parts of the fish-plates actually contact with the rails, and consequently the rails are free to expand and contract, or in other words, to slide freely longitudinally within certain limits without binding or bearing in any way upon the fixed lishplates.

There has thus been produced a simple and efficient device of the class specified and for the purpose described.

Having now fully described my invention, what l claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. In a rail joint of the class described including rails and fish-plates, the rails having horizontally disposed transverse slots in the neck portions thereof, spacer bushings confined within said slots, said bushings being thicker than the neck portion of the rails, and means for rigidly uniting the fish-plates with the bushings so that the rails are free to slide longitudinally within restricted limits.

2. In a rail joint of the class described including rails and fish-plates, the rails having` horizontally disposed transverse slots in the neck portions thereof, spacer bushings loose in said slots, said bushings being thicker than the nevel; portion of the rails, bolts passed through the fish-plates and spacer bushings and adapted to tighten the former and latter together so that the rails are free to slide longitudinally Within restricted limits.

In testimony Whereoi1 l have aixed iny signature.

' HENRY R. BALEY. ltnesses V. D. EARLE, L. A. VALLER. 

